NEU - PROBABILITY & STAITSTICS – TUTORIAL PAPER

TUTORIAL 4. BASIC PROBABILITY

TRUE OR FALSE
1. State, with evidence, whether each of the following statements is true or false:
a) The complement of the union of two events is the intersection of their complements.
b) The sum of the probabilities of collectively exhaustive events must equal 1.
c) The number of combinations of x objects chosen from n is equal to the number of
combinations of (n – x ) objects chosen from n , where 1 ≤ x ≤(n – 1).
d) If A and B are two events, the probability of A , given B, is the same as the probability of
B, given A , if the probability of A is the same as the probability of B.
e) If an event and its complement are equally likely to occur, the probability of that event
must be 0.5.
f) If A and B are independent, then A and B must be independent.
g) If A and B are mutually exclusive, then A and B must be mutually exclusive.

2. State, with evidence, whether each of the following statements is true or false:
a) The probability of the union of two events cannot be less than the probability of their
intersection.
b) The probability of the union of two events cannot be more than the sum of their individual
probabilities.
c) The probability of the intersection of two events cannot be greater than either of their
individual probabilities.
d) An event and its complement are mutually exclusive.
e) The individual probabilities of a pair of events cannot sum to more than 1.
f) If two events are mutually exclusive, they must also be collectively exhaustive.
g) If two events are collectively exhaustive, they must also be mutually exclusive.

3. State, with evidence, whether each of the following statements is true or false:
a) The conditional probability of A , given B, must be at least as large as the probability of A .
b) An event must be independent of its complement.
c) The probability of A , given B, must be at least as large as the probability of the
intersection of A and B.
d) The probability of the intersection of two events cannot exceed the product of their
individual probabilities.
e) The posterior probability of any event must be at least as large as its prior probability.

MULTIPLE CHOICE
4. Two events are collectively exhaustive, what is the probability that both occur?
A. 0.
B. 0.50.
C. 1.00.
D. Cannot be determined from the information given

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NEU - PROBABILITY & STAITSTICS – TUTORIAL PAPER
5. If two events are mutually exclusive, what is the probability that one or the other occurs?
A. 0.
B. 0.50.
C. 1.00.
D. Cannot be determined from the information given.
6. If two equally likely events A and B are mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive, what
is the probability that event A occurs?
A. 0.
B. 0.50.
C. 1.00.
D. Cannot be determined from the information given.
7. If either event A or event B must occur, then events A and B are said to be
A. mutually exclusive.
B. statistically independent.
C. collectively exhaustive.
D. None of the above.
8. The employees of a company were surveyed on questions regarding their educational
background and marital status. Of the 600 employees, 400 had college degrees, 100 were
single, and 60 were single college graduates. The probability that an employee of the company
is single or has a college degree is:
A. 0.10
B. 0.25
C. 0.667
D. 0.733
9. The probability that house sales will increase in the next 6 months is estimated to be 0.25. The
probability that the interest rates on housing loans will go up in the same period is estimated
to be 0.74. The probability that house sales or interest rates will go up during the next 6
months is estimated to be 0.89. The probability that house sales will increase but interest rates
will not during the next 6 months is:
A. 0.065
B. 0.15
C. 0.51
D. 0.89
10. The probability that a new advertising campaign will increase sales is assessed as being 0.80.
The probability that the cost of developing the new ad campaign can be kept within the
original budget allocation is 0.40. Assuming that the two events are independent, the
probability that the cost is kept within budget or the campaign will increase sales is:
A. 0.20
B. 0.32
C. 0.68
D. 0.88

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NEU - PROBABILITY & STAITSTICS – TUTORIAL PAPER
11. A company has 2 machines that produce widgets. An older machine produces 23% defective
widgets, while the new machine produces only 8% defective widgets. In addition, the new
machine produces 3 times as many widgets as the older machine does. Given that a widget
was produced by the new machine, what is the probability it is not defective?
A. 0.06
B. 0.50
C. 0.92
D. 0.94

PROBLEM
12. The probability of pass A is 0.60, the probability of pass B is 0.45, and the probability pass B
given pass A is 0.5.

B (pass) B (fail) Sum

A (pass)

A (fail)

Sum

Find the probability that:

a) Either A or B pass
b) Either A or B fail
c) Only one pass
d) Only one fail
e) A pass given B passed
f) A pass given B failed
g) B fail given A pass
h) B pass given A failed

13. In a university, the percentages of ‘Distinction’, ‘Merit’, and ‘Pass’ in students are 10%, 20%,
70%, respectively. The probability that a D, M, P student obtain a scholarship are 0.8, 0.3 and
0.05, respectively. What are the proportions of D, M, P student among scholarships?

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